The Girl Can't Help It

There are plenty of reasons to watch this again; Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Fats Domino and the Platters; not to mention Jayne Mansfield in the stunning red Lincoln convertible.
It's about how to make a talentless good-looker into a recording star (before Simon Cowell).
Julie London's version of 'Cry Me a River' is compelling.

Simon's Cat

I just discovered Simon's Cat this morning courtesy of the Guardian website.
Everything I ever thought about cats is in this cartoon - I love their curiosity and wickedness, but I'd rather see it in your house than mine.

The whole world of Simon's Cat is available here

Rachelle Ferrell Live - Sista

The Best Bilko Show

Phil Silvers and Bilko at his best. Includes a great ad-lib during the trial scene.

Parts 2 and 3 should appear bottom left...

Markets of Britain

Something to make you titter

The Stranglers

Leigh Behnke

You can see more of Leigh's work at the Plus One Gallery here

Kim Carnes

Elgar

Elvis Costello - Shipbuilding - Live

Mavis Staples & Jeff Tweedy

Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy worked together on her new album "You're not alone".

This is a live acoustic version of the title track. Amazing to think that she is 71...





You can listen to the Album version by using the mp3 player below -

Running up that hill

Kate Bush - who could write, perform and dance... and she was properly pouting a long time before Facebook...

ABC - Look of Love

Great song from the 80"s - with a video that really will take your breath away

Willard Grant Conspiracy

Soft Hand played live -

Mayer Hawthorne

Mayer Hawthorne's first album - 

is not what you would expect - not if you rely on the cover.

Here is a taste -




You can read more about him here

Morocco to Barcelona

Morocco & Spain from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

Marc Rogoff

Link to his web page where you can see the images he took with a Hasselblad HD camera.

There are tiny samples below; on his site you can zoom in on them and see the incredible detail produced by the camera.

"Rehab" Mento version by The Jolly Boys

I was thinking it was time to give up all hope of an alternative career in music, but then...

Tom Waits - "Clap Hands"

This live performance was from Big Time, a show and later a film and an album.

Tom Waits (1988):  "What we tried to avoid is having a concert film that felt like a stuffed bird. I tried to film it like a Mexican cockfight instead of air-conditioned concert footage. Some of it felt like it was shot through a safari rifle. You forget about the camera, which is what I was trying to do. But when you see yourself in concert, it rarely looks like the way you feel when you're up there. I thought I was much taller. I thought I looked like Robert Wagner ... if we had more money, we would have done the Rangoon gladiator sequences. And the shot of the audience holding up their matches and all that. We could have gotten the underwater ballet sequences, but it really would have been a different film, I think ... Now that it's completed, I would not have had my underwear coming out of the back of my pants like I did, but there's always something you want to change after it's over.
The idea was, you put the film out there, the film can go on the road, and I can stay home. That was the idea, but then I end up having to go out and do interviews. [Big Time is] getting mixed reviews. I guess that's what they call it - mixed reviews. One reviewer said, 'Piano teachers will be shocked,' which is one of my favourite reviews. Another guy said it looked like it was filmed in the stomach of a very sick animal. Now those were the good reviews. I recommend it."

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals - "Tiny Light"

Grace Potter And The Nocturnals - Tiny Light

My Melbourne Photos

One very cool crooner encountered early on

One of the oldest, still one of the best for breakfast

 The fabled 4 seasons in one day

Evening view from St Kilda looking back at Melbourne

St Kilda beachfront amusements

The Whitest Boy Alive - "Golden Cage"

The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage

Ramona Falls

Ramona Falls "I Say Fever" from Barsuk Records on Vimeo.


You really should watch this on Full Screen - great video.

More by Luc Viatour

Dew on a Spider's web

Valeu

One of my favourite songs... Tania Maria sings "Valeu"

W.C. Fields

Here is a link to more highlights

Future Clouds & Radar - "Build Havana"

Explore  the StarAppleKingdom

Here is another song by the same guy - I think he's called Robert Harrison - from the days
when he was in a band called Cotton Mather. It's called Spin My Wheels.

Photographs by Luc Viatour

Examples of the varied work of Belgian photographer Luc Viatour, 

from his Wikimedia Commons page

Short but stunning - "Seaweed"

Seaweed from Tell No One on Vimeo.

This stunning video was made by "Tell NoOne"

More of their work is here.

Beatles ??

More like the Beatles than any cover version of any Beatles song, "Lies" was in fact - or allegedly - written
by "Beau Charles", the lead vocalist of this odd looking American band called The Knickerbockers.

I'm not sure whether he's the one playing the Rickenbacker guitar, or the one who's
playing the silent saxophone; but the whole thing sounds very like Lennon & McCartney to me.

The Bradshaws

Manchester's premier family, Alf, Audrey and Billy Bradshaw have to deal with
Billy's hiccups...

Wikimedia Commons

Wikimedia Commons  is a great site for freely useable media files.

These are from past photo competitions.

Pahoeoe Fountain

Sunset... that's all it says

Lake Zug, Switzerland

1936 Flash Gordon

In which King Vultan tries to electrocute Flash - but luckily the suspiciously

under-dressed Dr Zarkov has an electro - stimulator in his laboratory.

Don't ask.

Thunderbirds Intro

Photos from the air

A selection of photos from Boston.com

Barcelona

Mount Kilimanjaro

Wheat fields in Washington

Lesser Antilles

The Brush lives here

It might not be great art, but it's colourful, cheerful and I like it.

From Photobucket

Witty Photos

These witty photos were originally posted at smashingapps

Ben Harper - "Excuse Me Mister"

Ben Harper is wonderful. This is from his 1995 album "Fight for your Mind".

I was reminded of this song recently when watching coverage of Tony Hayward, BP's
CEO, being grilled by US politicians about the oil spill in the Gulf.

OK Go - End Love

Perhaps a better video than song, but it's pretty entertaining.

You can listen to their album here

These are the same guys who made the famous "treadmill" video which you can watch here

Rather than Manchester: Old Havana

A captivating short film of "Old Havana" with bewitching music.



HABANA VIEJA from Van Royko on Vimeo.

Hotel in Holland

The INNTEL Hotel in Zaandam

I think this is better than a concrete block type hotel; but it's striking rather anything beautiful. 

Zandaam apparently has many houses like this, but usually side by side.

Here is one - in Claude Monet's painting 'The Blue House in Zandaam' (1871)

How it should be done - Football Commentary

People in Yosemite

A fascinating time-lapse video that shows how people behave in Yosemite.



People in Yosemite: A TimeLapse Study from Steven M. Bumgardner on Vimeo.





The people look like a huge colony of ants on a day out, particularly climbing the rockface.

M. Ward - RequIem

This track, Requiem, comes from one of Matt Ward's older albums called Post-War (2006).

I really enjoy his music. If you like what you've heard, you can listen to the whole of his
new album, Hold Time, here at Merge Records.

Who did this?

Friday evening we found an egg buried in the planter outside the front door.
It had been completely buried - it's only come out for this photo opportunity.

There was much speculation about squirrels and milkmen, but the answer to how it
got there may well be here.


It had gone by 7am Saturday morning, so the hungry thief had been back.

Travel Photos

There are some really good photographs at the Guardian Online travel section,
which includes a monthly competition. The last topic was 'travel.'

Below is a remarkably similar photo I took in Venice some years ago.
I didn't enter...
but when the 'fruit and veg on a gondola' competition is on, who knows.

American Music Club - 'All the lost Souls'

Mark Eitzel's American Music Club make great music.




If you like it, you can listen to the album at Merge Records, here

The Nativity - Like you never heard it before.

The text below is as written and read by John Bell just before Christmas 2004.
I found it on the BBC website.
To hear the original broadcast click here and listen to 23/12/2004.
It's worth listening to - I only heard it the once 6 years ago and never forgot it.
Good old Beeb - it was still there.
Enjoy.

We tend to think that Christmas is a time for children. That's why we get them to do nativity plays. But do they learn the story? Here's one child's testimony: Christmas is a time for children because the baby Jesus was a child. So were his mum and dad. Mary was 10 when she had her baby, because that is how old Sheryl Foster is, and Joseph was 11 like Ravinder Singh.Joseph was not the real daddy of Jesus. The real daddy was Mr. Montgomery, our school janitor who is also Santa Claus. Mary was pregnant, but stayed very thin, unlike my mum when she was having wee Sandra. Mary always wore a blue nightie, and Joseph wore a dressing gown like Ravinder Singh's dad. Mary and Joseph had to travel from the back of the school hall to Bethlehem on a donkey called Gerry, after Mr. Montgomery the janitor. Caesar Augustus wanted the whole world to be taxed. That is why everybody went to Bethlehem and it was so crowded. People had even come from Africa and Australia because there is no snow there. Mary decided she was going to have the baby right away in the snow, because there was no room at the inn. The innkeeper had a wife whose name was Veronica. She was also one of the ugly sisters who had big feet. The innkeeper's name was Lo, because Joseph said to him, 'Lo, my wife is great with child.' Lo took Mary and Joseph to a dirty cowshed. It was full of steam and smells from the pigs and cows and hens who had gathered together for the census. Mary had her baby in front of everybody. When he arrived everybody realised that she was dressed in blue because she knew it was going to be a boy. She called him Jesus and immediately he sat up and pointed to the roof where there was a draught. Some shepherds came to see the baby. They had been told by the angels to bring him a lamb. Joseph put it in the manger beside the baby Jesus. The shepherds got in just before the three wise men who wore Mrs. Anderson's silk scarves after they promised not to wipe their nose on them. The wise men had gifts for the baby - a big stone covered with gold paper, a perfume bottle full of cochineal and incense sticks. Joseph put these in the manger next to the lamb and the baby Jesus.Then the shepherds and the wise men knelt down in front of the baby Jesus and sang Jingle Bells. Then Mr. Montgomery came in dressed as Santa Claus, but Mrs Anderson shouted at him because it was not time yet. If you find this funny, Happy Christmas. If you're offended, stop asking children do the nativity play. It's really a story for adults.

copyright 2004 BBC

South Park Episodes and Clips

Clips from lots of shows and some full episodes are at southparkstudios.co.uk

Absolutely guaranteed to cheer me up after a bad day.

Carolina Chocolate Drops - "Genuine Negro Jig" Live

I was intrigued when the Carolina Chocolate Drops received great reviews
for their new album so I listened to it, and liked what I heard.
But the music and the band really come to life - as the clip above and these pictures
demonstrate - in a live performance.

There is nothing better than being there to see the music live.
So, this is the next best thing.

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

This is fantastic time lapse film-making. His website is here.

Most Dangerous Toy Ever?

This science kit was on sale to the public in the 1950's and actually
contained 4 kinds of Uranium Ore - and of course a geiger counter.

There just aren't as many opportunities to buy radio-active gifts for
your kids in 2010.

More about it here at gajitz.com

Preparing for the World Cup

Football fan or not, there are some wonderful photos of South Africa getting ready at Boston.com

The link is posted below the picture, and should open in a new window.

Visit Preparing for the World Cup - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Devil's Little Finger (feat. Bozo) DEMO by Jeanie in the Radiator

I can boast that I know some of these very talented people really well...
I'd like you to imagine that's because I'm really well connected, but actually
it's because I'm related to 2 of them.


Damn the way talent skips a generation. That would be my generation.


Use this Link to myspace page and play Devil's Little Finger (feat. Bozo) 

Ron Sexsmith: Nothing Good

I love this guy's music...

Miss Lulu and the Teaspoon Shortage

My daughter Charlie interviewed Lucia Holm for The House London Blog recently.

Her photography is amazing; her intriguingly titled blog is
Miss Lulu and the Teaspoon Shortage.

Rather than Manchester: Venice

Around Venezia from Icam on Vimeo.

How Mummy stays Yummy

I saw this in Regent's Park the other day. 

There was a trainer shouting instructions to all the mummies, and 

once  they were lined up on the path, off they went.

It wasn't a race exactly, but whoever found themselves at the back 

had to overtake all the others and get to the front, and so on and on.

The kids didn't have crash helmets on or anything. 

But they were mainly asleep.

The I Want One Category

Stylish Mouse Pads; they look much better than the freebie rubbish on my desk.

You can see this and other new designs by Kitmen Keung here